BEIJING: No recipient of China’s COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use has reported severe adverse effects, and no vaccine recipient who went to work in countries where the pandemic is still ongoing has been infected, officials said on Tuesday.
China currently has 13 vaccine candidates in clinical trials, of which three inactivated vaccines and one adenovirus vector vaccine are in phase three trials overseas, said Tian Baoguo, deputy head of the Department of Science and Technology for Social Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
About 60,000 volunteers have been inoculated with the four vaccine candidates currently in phase three trials, Tian said at a news briefing held by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council.
No severe adverse reaction has been reported among them, and preliminary results show that these vaccines are generally safe and only have minor side effects such as pain and bruising at the injection site, as well as temporary low-grade fever, he added.
Liu Jingzhen, chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group Co, or Sinopharm, said third-stage clinical trials of two inactivated vaccine candidates developed by the company are being conducted in 10 foreign countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Argentina, Egypt and Peru.
“The current feedback is very satisfactory and we have received wide recognition from the international community,” Liu said, adding that there are now dozens of countries asking for the company’s vaccines. Zheng Zhongwei, head of China’s COVID-19 vaccine development task force, said the nation’s annual COVID-19 vaccine production capacity could reach 610 million doses this year and it will expand further next year. Liu said his company would achieve an annual production capacity of 1 billion doses next year. When asked about the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate in China, Zheng said China is currently facing great pressure from small clusters of outbreaks domestically and from imported cases.
As a result, it is a necessary measure to approve COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in high-risk demographics, such as front-line medical personnel, border staff, people traveling overseas to work and essential workers, he said.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
